Our first story comes from Max, a female detransitioner who says that her transition was about ‘escaping lesbophobia and male harassment’. #ManchesterDetrans
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He adds that the term ‘puberty blockers’ is misleading. He says that they are ‘potent drugs’ which probably have physiological consequences beyond affecting puberty.
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He goes on to say that the term ‘puberty blockers’ falsely implies that they are a targeted medical intervention and ‘lures us towards a simplification of something that is much more complex than that’.
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@stellaomalley3 says that ‘the lack of long term evidence is the biggest issue in this field...we need to tread carefully’.#ManchesterDetransShow this thread -
Dr Ann Hutchinson points out the alarming statistic that ‘nearly 100% of those who take puberty blockers go on to take cross-sex hormones’.
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@charlie_sci adds that ‘we have no system to effectively collect data on detransition’. @HannahKJRyan agrees, highlighting the importance of acknowledging that existing statistics on detransition are highly questionable.#ManchesterDetransShow this thread -
@HannahKJRyan notes that the effects of puberty blockers and HRT are long term and so long term data collection on these treatments is absolutely crucial.
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Dr David Bell asks someone absolutely crucial questions: ‘Why is this happening? What kind of social, cultural events are leading to this rapid change? Has there been a sudden rise in misogyny? Are girls internalising their hatred of femininity?’
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He says that ‘it would be very reductionist to put this down to individuals’ and says that understanding the complex social and cultural factors motivating this rapid change will take time.
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He questions the concerning ‘rush to [give] experimental treatment’.
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@HannahKJRyan says that more clinicians are starting to engage with the issue and she hopes that more medical professionals will speak out. She says ‘there is a lot of pressure to move quickly’.
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@HannahKJRyan says that those health professionals working face to face with children and teenagers who are experiencing a lot of distress are under ‘immense pressure’, both professionally and morally, to act.
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Dr David Bell says that there is fear amongst medical professionals of being called transphobic or being accused of a hate crime.
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Dr Anna Hutchinson says that medical professionals are accused of transphobia for calling for more research. She says ‘how can it be transphobic to call for better standards of care? I want better standards of care for dysphoric children’.
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A member of the audience who is also a medical professional working in this field describes his experiences of being silenced. He says, ‘we are advised against using the terms detransition and desisters’ and says that this deeply worries him.
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He also describes how the conflation of gender identity and sexuality is leading to a form of conversion therapy for these children.
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Another audience member, a clinical psychologist and lecturer, describes her concerns about the ‘affirmation-only model’ which advocates immediate social transition for gender-questioning children.
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@HannahKJRyan agrees and notes that the impact of social transition is significant and should not be underestimated.
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An audience member notes that gender ideology feels like old school sexism. Dr David Bell responds by saying that he has observed a ‘caricaturing of gender stereotypes’ through transition.
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Dr Bell also says there is ‘a great confusion in talking about gender and talking about sexuality as if they are the same thing’. He laments that gay and lesbian young people are being deprived of the opportunity to come terms with their emerging sexuality.
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Dr Bell also makes the harrowing link between the rise in medical transition and increasingly commodified & privatised healthcare where the ‘consumer is always right’. He feels that treating patients as consumers is dangerous & leads to a rush to transition.
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@stellaomalley3 says that the relationship between gender-questioning individuals and therapists should be ‘explorative and slow’.#ManchesterDetransShow this thread -
@HannahKJRyan says that ‘there isn’t open dialogue’ between all relevant parties and that discussions such as today’s
@MakeMoreNoise2 event are incredibly important.#ManchesterDetransShow this thread -
@stellaomalley3 describes the difficulty she experienced in making her documentary ‘Trans Kids – It’s Time To Talk’ as so many sources refused to speak on the issue.#ManchesterDetransShow this thread -
She says that we must galvanise as we can’t let the non-experts rule the debate.
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We will now hear from a brave panel of detransitioners including @tjdetrans and
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‘Us detransitioners agree that medical transition is not the perfect solution to gender dysphoria’.
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Ellie describes having a lack of role models who were masculine females and how she struggled to envisage growing up to be a lesbian woman.
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@sathananas also describes having no lesbians around her growing up and also struggling to imagine her life as a lesbian woman. She describes coming to the realisation that her transition was at least partially motivated by internalised homophobia.#ManchesterDetransShow this thread -
@tjdetrans describes the influence of the internet on her transition. When she was 14, feeling socially isolated & struggling to admit that she is a lesbian, ‘being able to see things online which gave [her] a way out of those things was very reassuring’.
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@sathananas makes some extremely heartfelt and moving statements. Regarding her fellow panelists she says ‘where have these women been all my life? It could have prevented all this pain and suffering if I had these women in my life’.#ManchesterDetransShow this thread - Show replies
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